- Girls as young as 11 will be able to obtain the morning-after
pill at a London school without their parents' consent.
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- If the scheme at Chestnut Grove School in Balham is successful,
it could be extended to every secondary school in Wandsworth, a borough
which has the fifth highest teenage pregnancy rate in inner London.
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- Margaret Peacock, the headmistress, said her school was
trying to behave responsibly.
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- She said under-16s could already obtain the pill without
their parents' consent from hospital accident and emergency units and pharmacies.
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- "The school governors thought it would be better
for children to receive counselling from the school nurse at the same time.
If the child is under age, loud bells will ring and the case will be treated
as a child protection issue."
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- Social services could be involved, although under current
law, parents do not need to be informed.
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- Government figures in July showed that four girls of
10 had become mothers. The figures covered three years - 1998, 1999 and
2000 - and showed that another 23 girls of 11 had become pregnant and about
400 under-14s had conceived.
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- Sheila Crouch, Chestnut Grove's nurse, said: "If
a pupil comes to me for advice about emergency contraception I can only
inform them of relevant clinics. This delays the process. The sooner the
young person takes the first dose of the Levonelle-2 pill the more likely
it is to prevent a pregnancy."
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- The mother of one 12-year-old pupil said: "I was
horrified. They're trying to take away any control that parents have.
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- "If you're going to give children an easy option
it's not teaching anybody how to be responsible or accountable for their
actions.
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- "I don't believe it will be handed out regardless,
but it's a very sad sign of the times."
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/20
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